Water dam for concrete slabs



April E. A. ROBERTSON ,926

WATER DAM FOR CONCRETE SLABS Filed Sept. 10, 1934 (Fa Mara! Z fiaerdisov.

Patented Apr. 21, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIQE 9 Claims.

In the laying of concrete slabs for roads and other concrete construction work, it has been the practice to keep the upper portions or layers of the slabs moist to produce uniform curing of the concrete slabs. Heretofore, the moistening has been done by sprinkling the tops of the slabs or by covering the same with damp cloths. These methods are drawn out and costly and require a lot of work.

It is the object of this invention to provide an improved enclosing rail or water dam to be removably clamped upon the top surface of a concrete road to enclose the topsurfaces of the road slabs between the sides and ends of the water dam to permit a layer or coating of water of a required depth to be deposited upon the top of the concrete construction and to be held in place by the walls of the water dam to produce uniform curing of the concrete.

It is an object of this invention to provide a water dam adapted to be removably clamped upon the top surface of a concrete construction for the purpose of holding a covering of water in position over the concrete slab to insure proper curing of the concrete.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a water dam for a concrete construction, said dam embodying a plurality of rubber and metal walls arranged to provide an enclosure for retaining water for a desired period of time as a covering for the top surfaces of the slabs comprising the concrete construction.

It is another object of this invention to provide a. concrete construction with an improved water dam constructed of abutting rubber and metal walls which form an enclosure and which are removably clamped in position upon the top surface of a concrete construction for holding a covering of water on the concrete construction during the curing of the concrete.

It is furthermore an object of this invention to provide a concrete construction with a water dam consisting of rubber side walls provided with metal caps which are retained in position by removable clamping members which act to tightly clamp the rubber walls upon the top surfaces of the concrete The water dam also includes transversely dispose-d walls, the lower margins of which are projected into the bituminous crack filling material of the contraction joints with the ends of the transverse walls tightly abutting the inner faces of the dam side walls to afford a closure for the reception of a bath or layer of water to keep the top surfaces of the concrete construction moist during the curing of the concrete.

It is an important object of this invention to provide a concrete construction with a removable water dam or water retaining frame, consisting 5 of spaced rubber side walls which are removably clamped upon the top surface of a concrete construction and having transversely disposed metal end Walls engaged between and contacting the side walls and furthermore projecting temporarily down into the bituminous material filling the cracks of either expansion or contraction joints formed in the concrete construction; said water dam serving to temporarily hold a coating or bath of water over the concrete construction enclosed by the water dam to facilitate proper curing of the concrete for producing a better grade of concrete.

Other and further important objects of this invention will be apparent from the disclosures in the specification and the accompanying draw- The invention (in its preferred form) is illustrated in the drawing and hereinafter more fully described.

On the drawing:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary top plan view of a concrete road having a water dam removably engaged thereon and embodying the principles of this invention. 30

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary isometric view illustrating an interior corner of the water dam and its association with a concrete road slab.

Figure 3 is an enlarged vertical detail section taken on line III-III of Figure 1.

As shown on the drawing:

The upper or crown section of the concrete road is divided into a plurality of adjacently positioned concrete slabs l by means of a longitudinal center joint 2 and properly spaced transverse road expansion joints 3 and contraction joints which are spaced at intervals between the road expansion joints. In the present showing, the contraction joints each comprises a cracking plate 4 having a U-shaped trough or cap 5 supported on the upper margin thereof for the reception of a plastic crack filler 6 of asphalt or any other suitable bituminous material. In the type of road illustrated in Figure 1, there are two contraction joints at spaced intervals between each pair of expansion joints 3,

For the purpose of keeping the top surfaces of the concrete slabs l moist, after the pouring of the concrete slabs, to insure proper curing of the concrete, the present invention has been devised to provide a water dam for removable engagement upon the top surface of a newly formed concrete road or similar construction. The water dam is arranged to confine a covering or bath of water over' a selected area of newly formed concrete.

The improved water dam or reservoir in the present showing comprises a pair of longitudinal or side walls I constructed of rubber or a similar material. The lower edges of the rubber side walls "I are seated on the outer side margins of the top surface of the concrete road. Engaged upon the upper edges of each of the rubber side walls I is a light metal U-shaped cap 8. The rubber side walls I are tightly clamped upon the top surface of the concrete by means of adjustable set screws 9 which are engaged through threaded apertures provided in the upper hookshaped head members I G of clamping brackets II. Each bracket I I is also provided with a base flange or foot I2 which, as clearly illustrated in Figure 2, projects beneath the concrete slab I so that the rubber side walls I are tightly clamped upon the top surfaces of the concrete to form the side walls of the water dam.

Positioned transversely of the concrete road are dam end walls, each comprising a metal plate or Wall I3 provided with an angled top flange I4. The lower edge of each of the end walls I3 is tapered or provided with a cutting knife edge to facilitate the projection of the lower edge of an end wall downwardly into the bituminous filler 6 of a road contraction joint. This arrangement is clearly illustrated in Figure 3- and serves to hold the end walls l3 in place with the ends of the end walls abutting against the inner surfaces of the side walls 1 to form a walled closure, reservoir or dam upon the top of a newly constructed concrete construction, such as a road or the like. With the side and end walls forming a dam affording a suitable closure or reservoir, water I5 is deposited within the dam or enclosed surface of the road to a desired depth. As a precaution to prevent leakage of the water out of the corners of the water dam, a quantity of mud I6 or other suitable material is thrown into the corners of the dam, as illustrated in Figure 2.

The dam or water holding reservoir or frame is adapted to be removably clamped upon the top surface of newly laid concrete to enclose a selected area of the concrete to permit a covering or layer of water to be held in position upon the selected area of concrete so that the top portions of the concrete cannot dry out or set too rapidly to insure uniform curing of the interior portions of the concrete. The water dam may be made of any desired length and extends across the width of the road, as illustrated in Fig. 1, in which the top surfaces of four concrete slabs are confined within the walls of the water dam. Where it is desirable to cover a larger area with a coating of water, the side rubber walls I may be provided in greater lengths and the end walls I3 may be spaced farther apart with the lower knife edges of the end walls I3 projecting downwardly into the bituminous material filling the top portions of the joint cracks of 'either the contraction joints or expansion joints of the road or concrete construction.

The improved removable water container or dam is adapted to be readily engaged in position upon a new concrete construction to keep the top surfaces of a predetermined area of the concrete moist during the period of curing and eliminate the need for continuously sprinkling the new concrete by the cumbersome arrangement of laying layers of cloth or canvas on the concrete and wetting the cloths from time to time. The old method of applying layers of wet dirt upon the top of the concrete is also done away with by the use of the improved water dam.

While the dam has been described as perhaps requiring deposits of dirt I6 to be thrown into the corners of the dam to prevent water leakage, it will, of course, be understood that any other sealing means for the corners of the dam may be used at the points where the ends of the end walls I3 abut against the inner surfaces of the side walls I.

It will, of course, be understood that various details of construction may be varied through a wide range without departing from the principles of this invention, and it is therefore not the purpose to limit the patent granted hereon otherwise than necessitated by the scope of the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A water dam for concrete slabs, said-dam comprising a walled enclosure, and means engageable beneath the concrete slabs for removably clamping the enclosure upon the top of the concrete slabs to form a temporary dam for the retention of a coating of water over the slabs to facilitate the uniform curing of the concrete.

2. A water dam for concrete slabs, said dam comprising a pair of spaced rubber side walls, metal end walls engaged between the side walls to form a reservoir for the retention of water, and means engaged beneath the concrete slabs and over the side walls for clamping the same upon v the top surfaces of concrete slabs.

3. The combination with a concrete construction of a water dam comprising a closure means open at the bottom and at the top and seated upon the top surface of the concrete construction, and bracket means engaging over the closure means and also engaging beneath the concrete construction to hold the closure means tightly clamped upon the top surface of the concrete construction to form a reservoir for the retention of water to facilitate the proper curing of the concrete after the pouring of the same.

4. A water dam for a concrete construction, said dam comprising end walls removably projected into the bituminous filling of transverse joints formed in the concrete construction, rubber side walls engaged upon the top surface of the concrete construction and abutting against the ends of the end walls to form an enclosure, metal caps engaged upon the rubber side walls, clamping brackets engaged over the metal caps and projecting beneath the concrete construction, and adjustable means on the clamping brackets and engaging the metal caps of the side walls for tightly clamping the rubber side Walls against the top surface of the concrete construction making the enclosure watertight to hold a covering of water upon the top surface of the concrete during the construction.

5. A concrete construction water dam comprising a plurality of abutting walls arranged to form an enclosure, and brackets including adjustable screw means for clamping the enclosure tightly upon the top surface of a concrete construction for the retention of a covering of water over the top surface of the concrete construction enclosed by the walls.

6. A concrete construction water dam comprising a pair of rubber walls, a pair of end walls engaged between the rubber walls and adapted to be projected downwardly into cracks of a concrete construction, caps engaged on the rubber walls, brackets engaged over the caps and projectable underneath the slabs forming the concrete construction, and adjustable means carried by the brackets and engaging the caps for tightly clamping the rubber walls upon the top surface of the concrete to permit a blanket of water to be retained in position by the rubber side walls and the end walls to cover the top surface of the concrete construction during the period of curing.

7. A concrete construction water dam comprising a pair of rubber walls, a pair of metal walls spanning the space between the rubber walls to form a water enclosure, metal caps on the rubber walls, and adjustable means for removably clamping the water enclosure upon the top of a concrete construction.

8. A concrete construction water enclosing means comprising a pair of end walls removably projectable into the bituminous fillings of transverse joints formed in the concrete construction, and side walls abutting against the ends of the end walls to provide an enclosure for a covering of water for the concrete surface bounded by the end walls and the side walls.

9. A concrete construction water dam comprising a pair of metal end plates removably projectable into the plastic fillings of road joints formed in the concrete construction, rubber side walls abutting against the ends of the end walls to form a water retaining reservoir for retaining a covering of water upon the surface of the concrete construction enclosed by the end walls and side walls, brackets removably engaged beneath the concrete construction and projecting upwardly around the side walls, and adjustable means on the brackets for clamping the side walls tightly upon the top surface of the concrete construction.

EDWARD A. ROBERTSON. 

